The stakes at the Belmont Stakes are never higher than when a horse has won the previous two legs of the Triple Crown, and has a chance, if victorious in this race, to pull off the rare, and impressive, equine equivalent of the hat trick. If California Chrome is first across the finish line this afternoon, as at the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, it’ll be only the 12th horse in history to earn the Triple Crown. How affirming would that be? The last horse to do it was named Affirmed, more than 35 years ago, in 1978.